First, they can replace high-wattage light bulbs in their buildings and offices for compact fluorescent, they can also prominently display recycling receptacles in their gyms, stores, and manufacturing facilities. The janitors can also begin to use all-natural products to clean the floors and restrooms. Fitness gyms can replace all bottled drinks in their vending machines to Aquafina bottles made with 50% less plastic or any other bottled drink that is labeled as using recycled materials. They can begin using recycled paper to print on as well as using vegetable based inks in their printers. Gym’s can start sending more e-mail promotions as opposed to postcard mailers that a lot of people just throw away.

They can also install those faucets that only turn on when your hands are underneath, which would avoid faucets being left on for long periods of time. They can replace shower heads, and toilets, and water fountains to more water efficient ones. They can install solar panels. They can have hand driers instead of paper towels. All these things come at a high cost but the payout is even greater, most facilities that start implementing green initiatives will break even after at least 11 months with all their savings in energy and water bills, plus they will be helping the environment.

At home I always unplug everything when it is not being used: chargers, TV, computer, microwave, coffee maker, everything, with the exception of my refrigerator and stove! & my energy bill has never really been higher than 100 dollars. If gyms did this, it would save them a lot of money as well. Because even if something is turned off and not being used, it is still using power. When you are not using your microwave & the time is showing, you are using power. When you are not using your computer, & the little light is still flashing on it, it is using power. In gyms, when all the treadmills are not being used, but have lights and words scrolling through the screens, or the tv’s have their little standby light on, power is being wasted. If they just unplugged everything, they would all notice huge paybacks.

Supplement companies don’t need to give up plastic packaging, because paper is equally harmful to the environment, cutting down all those trees will have an even bigger impact on our earth & compromising supplements for paper packaging would be a bad move. Honestly, you would not buy vitamins in a paper bag. What I do believe though is in making more efficient packaging, Volumaize and Introvol for example, come in plastic bottles, inside of a cardboard box ? totally un necessary. Pill bottles do not need to be in cardboard boxes either. They can use thinner plastic, or fill bottles completely. They can use recycled materials. There are many many endless things that there supplement and vitamin manufactures can change.

Sending back empty bottles sounds like a good idea, but think about it – consumers would have to pay for shipping, if manufactures did it, they would spend money they really don’t need to. Consumers would have to package their bottles most likely in a cardboard box, which would totally contradict the idea of going green because more and more cardboard would be sent and wasted.

People need to learn to re use these things themselves. Keep cardboard boxes and use them at a later time. Keep the plastic protein bottles and use it as a piggy bank, or cut the top off and plant a flower in it. I use an old 5lb protein bottle to put rice inside because the plastic bag it comes in spills all over my pantry all the time, and one for dry beans. I also use one to keep change in. I buy cereal bags with a zipper on the top and if the zipper breaks I put it in one of my plastic bottles so that it won’t get stale. You can put so many things inside of these bottles. Sugar, flour, dry pasta, baking powder, the possibilities are endless. We are depending so much on manufactures and companies to go green when we should really start with ourselves.

As far as paying more for these “green” products, it really would just depend. Going green doesn’t mean going expensive. The plastic aquafina bottles that use less plastic aren’t more expensive than regular water bottles. So I wouldn’t expect a huge price increase for these green products.

Equipment wise, one of the leaders of the fitness industry is Cybex. You’ll see a lot of their equipment in big chain gyms like 24 Hour Fitness, Gold’s Gym, and Powerhouse Gym just to name a few. [1]“Cybex is striving to be more eco-friendly and showing they can lead the way. They have taken steps such as building a state of the art 3.5 million dollar electrostatic painting system that uses energy efficient motors and keeps paint proportionally distributed for less waste. They have installed a water recycling system that re-uses water over and over during this process to reduce waste water. This process helps lower mercury pollution and greenhouse gases. Along with these advancements, Cybex has utilized advanced building design and heavy insulation to lower overall costs by 25%. Part of this building design is an abundance of windows to help utilize more natural light. When artificial light is needed, they have installed state of the art HID Holophane lighting to reduce both overall cost and energy. This saves the company, its customers and the environment in the process. Cybex has also seeded its acreage surrounding their new facility to create an environment to support both foliage and wildlife.” Like at Cybex, I see a lot more gyms putting in more windows to support less artificial light and encourage more natural light use.

At gyms, so much money could possibly be saved and the environment less damaged. Lights could be switched over to LED’s or CFL’s to save electricity. Solar panels could be installed when needed and the savings over time would be passed on to the customer. Shower heads could be changed to use less water but still feel comfortable. In addition to energy saving lights, use motion sensor lighting. Why keep a light on when no one is there to use it? These are just a few things that companies could change to “go green” with equipment. These options are very simple and easy to do also.

Supplement wise, companies could increase the amount of pills in a bottle so you wouldn’t have to keep buying more often. For example, making only a 360 count pill bottle instead of having a 180 and 360 count. It would be more economically beneficial to the consumer and the producer in the long run. It would also save with plastics, paper, etc. Also, maybe create a program in which a customer could return empty bottles as a type of credit program. For example, after every 15 bottles you return, get 1 bottle of the same product for free to encourage recycling. Not only would it encourage recycling, it would promote customer loyalty and repeat business. It would be a win win situation for both customer and producer. Companies can also start using less plastic through bottling. I’ve always wondered why a powdered supplement bottle is always only 3/4 full. The rest is wasted plastic packaging.

I’ve bought many items through A1supplements.com and you guys have saved me a lot of money. However, one thing I always thought you guys didn’t need was to send those paper receipts. Personally, I think the email receipt is enough. I’m sure if you guys eliminated the paper receipts sent in the box, a lot of money spent on paper would be saved which would then assist in the amount of trees being used to make paper.

To answer the original question, YES, I would pay more. Of course, I know that taking the initiative to “go green” will take some extra funds to use brand new technologies. In these economic times especially, everyone needs that extra help to pay for this or that. I would support a company who would “go green” and would encourage others to do so as well. This has to be a combined effort not only 1 or 2 companies trying.

This is just several of many examples companies could do to try and help out and “go green.” Now imagine this, maybe not as much (but just a little helps), but with the thousands of fitness related companies doing just a little to help out? Everyone doing a little adds up to ALOT and will go a long way in saving our environment and our future.

The term “going green” is not something that should be used lightly. It is not just about cardboard and plastic and recycling, it’s much much more and much bigger than that. Going green is about reducing the negative impact we put on the earth and all of its resources. Going green in the fitness industry should go further than just supplement companies, and include gym facilities and workout equipment manufacturers.

Gym’s around the world have already jumped on the “green” bandwagon and are going “green” inside their fitness facilities. Recently a Les Mills Gym chain in New Zealand have installed intelligent lighting controls with smart sensors that switch off lights when there is sufficient daylight or areas are unoccupied. They have also changed to water efficient shower heads, faucets, and toilets, thus reducing their water consumption; they have also replaced outdated and inefficient hot water systems with new high efficiency boilers. These gyms have also started a recycling plan to use environmentally materials in the construction of future building works.

Philip Mills the chairman and founder of Les Mills International spoke about going green and even went as far as saying we should “green our bodies”, stating that we could substantially reduce healthcare cost if more people exercised everyday and ate nutritiously.

Les Mills is not the only gym doing its part in preserving our environment, gyms around the world are all making efforts to reduce their negative impact and energy waste on the earth.

Cybex, one of the largest fitness equipment manufactures is also going green. I’m positive you have seen some of their fitness equipment at your local gym. They have built a state of the art electrostatic painting system that uses energy efficient motors and keeps painting proportionally distributed; they have also implemented a water recycling system that re-uses water over and over to reduce water waste. By doing this they have drastically lowered their mercury pollution and greenhouse gases.

Gyms, fitness equipment manufacturers, and vitamin and supplement manufacturers can do many many easy things to help our environment. Which include but are not limited to;

1. Replacing light bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs or light emitting diodes and turning off lights and other devices when they are not being used.
2. Having more windows in their businesses and using more natural light.
3. Putting heavy insulation in buildings to lower cooling and heating costs.
4. Planting more plants and trees outside their buildings.
5. Buying recycled paper, sending out documents to staff in emails instead of paper letters.

The supplement manufacturing industry should implement all of these energy conservation tips to their factories. By simply using recycled plastic, paper, and cardboard for the packaging of all their products they would drastically reduce their carbon footprint on earth. I don’t think supplement formulas should be compromised just because Muscletech’s Nano Vapor is in bigger packaging than USP Labs – Jack3d. But they could begin to replace synthetic ingredients with organic or natural ones, that are a lot better for my body and for the earth.

Now Foods for example has tons of organic vitamins and supplements. Which is a hundred times better for my body and will probably produce better results in the long run and still manage to have some of the lowest prices around for their vitamins and supplements.

So, as far as paying more for supplements made with “green packaging, energy and technology” – I don’t think that during this economy would be the right time to increase prices of the supplements we buy everyday. Going green might come at a high expense initially to these companies, but they will save thousands of dollars in the long run on energy and water conservation alone. So I would expect somewhat lower prices for their products. Its not true that everything made from green technology needs to be more expensive.

With polar ice caps melting and glaciers floating to waters they never have been in, going green is on everyone’s minds these days. The Earth is becoming smaller due to more people inhabiting the planet and we are consuming more which causes more waste. I personally have dealt with my own Eco-friendly work with building LEED buildings or green buildings to help relieve the stress and abuse done to the Earth by us all. It is ironic for me to hear a popular coined phrase using the word green in front of a supplement and how it’s an idea to help the environment. The idea of going green with our supplements is catchy and a real good idea since most all the containers are made of plastic and are non-biodegradable.

The fact that so many supplements are being consumed and distributed it is a wonder why so many companies use the unfriendly to the environment thick plastic packaging. To think of how the huge plastic bottles are oversized and half filled is so much a waste. A lot of people would be happier with a filled container and can use a smaller one to easily carry in their gym bag. The cost would actually become cheaper for the companies to package this way due to lighter distribution and less bottles being used. It makes me think of Jack3d, which is a great new product, and how it comes in a small full container. I’m guessing the companies that make the bigger, half full bottles are companies that want you to think your getting a huge bottle of something. The fact that people who make supplements with the main stream idea of going green at it’s core and how excess is just for show and not really needed would be so great for us all. I like the direction the market is taking and we are trimming the fat so to speak. We evolve and become streamlined. It would be a great thing to package supplements in a foil pack or a plastic ziploc bag like you get a lot of the multivitamins in. The new NOxplode NT is one that is boxed in a thin recyclable cardboard with the product individually packaged in single foil packs. It would be an easy change for all companies to start doing but don’t because the bigger companies
could care less of regulations they are not required to do. I would like to see a green company get a product that is widely demanded and make going green come to fruition. It will not be the little companies that step up and will start this trend. It will have to come from the big boys like BSN and Muscle Tech. It is also these companies that are incasing plastic containers with cardboard to primp up there old/new products to make even more waste. It is imperative that the FDA and government regulate these companies to incorporate a mandate for unnecessary use of such material. People are afraid to say that the government should step in, in fear of them stepping on too many toes and taking over it all. I hate to see everything governed but on this issue it is for the good of our children’s future, that is why we must let them come in and make an effort to cut down on usage of all non-recyclables.

The supplement companies are growing into a massive industry. As far as producing and shipping supplements goes I feel it is done pretty well by using recyclable cardboard boxes to deliver in. I do feel the government and FDA needs to monitor all distributions and manufacturing plants due to there is a strong need for control and to make sure any chemicals are not being disposed of hazardly to make any of the products. Some big companies in other industries have been known to cut corners to stay afloat. If history repeats itself we can see some of these big plants like these contaminating the waters by dumping chemicals into our waterways. Anything could be possible due to the amount of money being made and how that leads to greed.

Thanks to internet and paperless services, it is a great way to get supplements and become eco friendly. The cause is simple and is a good reason for us to change before what we do is irreversible. It might be the greatest lesson of all to be green minded for the future. I hope we will not have to make our future descendants pay the price of our negligence.